Help with clear stamps!! PLEASE
 

I have a few clear stamps and have to say I am very disappointed in them or my technique with them. I don't get a crisp image like I do with the rubber stamps. What am I doing wrong? I have some wonderful Christmas ones I want to use, but not the way they work for me. Your help is greatly appreciated!

Are you using a pad underneath the paper? I use a mouse as the pad and it helps tremendously with getting good impressions.

Also, you might try going over the stamp with a pencil eraser. That will help remove any residue from the stamp.

One other thing I've found is that, for me, chalk inks or pigment inks work better with (less expensive) acrylic stamps than dye inks. My CTMH stamps work great with dye ink.

I find versafine the only inks that are crisp enough for me on any stamp. it really makes a big difference,
jules x

I also found it's helpful to "prime" the clear stamps. Ink them and stamp off onto some scrap paper, clean the stamp and reink to stamp on your CS. Not sure why this helps but it seems to give a crisper image. I agree with the other stampers that different inks will give you different results with clear stamps. Try them each out on scrap and label so you can remember which results you got from what ink. I have seen an ink pad made specifically for clear stamps but have not tried it yet. Anyone try it yet?

Thank you so much for all of the ideas. I do use a cushion and even tried my versafine pad, which worked better, so will also try "priming".

One thing I found that helps get a sharper image with clear stamps is, don't push down too hard when stamping. The clear stamps are more flexible and can be squashed down leaving you with an image that is anything but sharp.

Thank you to everyone who "tipped" and to the original poster for the question. I am fairly new to acryllic stamps and appreciate the info.

Cheers,
Jackie

I have also tried inking with versamark clear ink then the colored. It seems to make the ink adhere a bit better to the stamp.

I've found that the 'less expensive' brands of acrylics tend to puddle the dye inks, especially those not formulated to work with acrylic stamps (CTMH dye ink pads are formulated to work with their stamps, for example) However, I've had good results with them by 'sanding' them with a nail buffer, then cleaning with StazOn cleaner, then regular cleaner. There's a great tutorial by Sharon on conditioning stamps here:
http:////www.splitcoaststampers.com/...ustritestamps/
She's addressing JustRite stamps in the tutorial, but it would be a great way to go on any stamps!
I tend to sand all my clear stamps now (except CTMH, which I've never had a problem with) before I use them!

StazOn and Palette (hybrid inks) also work very well!

I had the same issue with mine. I just read and tried running an anti-static bag over the stamp blow off all excess powder then ink up and stamp. It worked great. Just another priming technique.

I thought I read somewhere that Stazon cleaner is not good for acrylic stamps??? I use it all of the time on my rubber stamps and gets them sparkling clean. I have been using the Simple Green/Water ratio to clean the stamps as well. But there are inks that the Simple Green solution won't clean off like Palette inks on acrylic stamps. I've heard Brilliance ink pads work well with acrylic stamps too.

Good tips here. I haven't yet used the few clear stamps I have yet, so I will be looking back at this thread for when I get ready to use them.

Thank you Gregzgirl SO MUCH for sharing this...and thanks for Sharon for putting it together. I bought a stamp set from a friend of mine (an older SU one that she had for several years) and I was fairly miffed when it did not stamp a nice solid image (ladybugs don't look good blotchy!). So, I sanded it, cleaned it, sanded it, cleaned it a few times and tested it between each repeating and after not too many minutes, I had a perfectly good stamp set.

I just used a sanding block from home depot (one we had one hand which had been used). Perhaps I would have gotten a better result (?) if I had "proper" supplies, but I am very happy with how things worked out.

I am so glad to know how to do this!

TFS,
Jackie

Great tips everyone! With clear stamps I ink them with versamark and then ink them with my SU ink and they work just fine.

There was some discussion of this in the Crafty Secrets forum a while back and Sandy contacted Tsukineko to check with them. Here's what they said (short version - it depends on the exact polymer of the stamp).

For the OP - I'm another fan of Versafine with clear stamps - seems to work best every time!

HTH!

When I decided to take up stamping, I went with clear stamps because I like the whole 'seeing exactly where you're placing your image' thing. I had the same problem you were having with the images. You can wash your stamps w/warm soapy water after you get them home. And pigment ink works best w/clear stamps. Tsukineko makes good pigment ink.

There are many different clear stamp companies out there. I was a Close To My Heart consultant for a while and I don't have any problems with their stamps. I do have problems with other company's clear stamps, especially the $1 ones. It doesn't hold the ink very well and I couldn't get a clear image no matter what I did. Close To My Heart's inks are formulated to work with their stamps. These are some ways to condition them:

1) Stamp the image a few times onto scrap paper.
2) Use a clean white eraser and go over it a few times.

You can use stazon with clear stamps and also bleach. Just make sure to wipe it off right away.

I have a had some of my stamps for at least 4 years and no problems with them.

Clear stamps by nature will not give as crisp an image as rubber. Using less pressure when stamping with a clear stamp will help a lot.